When I was a teen I managed to read 5 books a week, sometimes more. Now it’s maybe 1 a week, except in phases where I have a lot of travel or the occasional read-up weekend.

But somehow my appetite for adding books to my shelves or my wish list has, if nothing, increased. And finding more books that tickle my curiosity isn’t hard, since the publishing industry is printing and selling more books than ever, and there are so many blogs, groups on librarything and friendfeed, and magazines, and, right now, all these “best of the year” lists.

My catalogue on librarything has me owning over 1500 books. And, of these, there’s at least 100 I haven’t read (not counting the reference books you never exactly read!), and several hundred I want to re-read. Instead, I buy new books or get books from the library. Some books have been on my “to read” list for 3 years or more. Perhaps I should admit I won’t read them… or perhaps I should give them -and me- a last chance?

Of course that is what I said last year, that I would focus on reading what I already had. I did a few, but… not all that many. Instead I added to the unread books pile… so just wanting to is not going to do it. I need help. I need peer pressure.

And, just in time, here comes the Mount TBR challenge:

Challenge Levels
Pike’s Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 25 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 40 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 50 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100+ books from your TBR pile/s

The rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you’re on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.
*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2012.
*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2012.
*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2012. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify—based on a question raised—the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.

You’re on!

I will be aiming low, for the Mt. Vancouver 25 books to start with. And of course my librarything catalogue can vouch for the books owned before January 1st http://www.librarything.com/catalog/iphigenie